Wednesday, June 8, 2016

It would not be possible to calculate the great influence of
Mr. Barnhorn on the sculpture of the Middle West...He has helped dozens of
promising students in music or sculpture over serious financial stumbling
blocks...The world knows nothing of these actions; he has always
given cheerfully, without any thought of publicity or reaction to his credit.

Clement Barnhorn was born in 1857 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He
attended St. Xavier College, then studied woodcarving under the English
woodcarver, Henry L. Fry, and modeling under the Italian modeler [Louis T.] Rebisso.
Next came a five-year scholarship in Paris, where he was a pupil of Mercie and
Puech. He studied drawing at the Academie Julian...He concluded his European studies with six months study in Italy.

Mr. Barnhorn succeeded his former teacher [Louis] Rebisso,
at the Cincinnati Art Academy. He was associated with the Academy for over
fifty years, as student and instructor. His studio was in the Art Museum,
adjoining the Academy.

Madonna, Relief bronze panel, Clement Barnhorn

Most of his work was ecclesiastical, such as the Madonna and
Child at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Covington, Kentucky, and the crucifixion group
and St. Monica on the façade of St. Monica’s Cathedral in Cincinnati, Ohio. His
first important work was ”Magdelen” for which he won honorable mention at the
Paris Salon in 1895, and a bronze medal in 1900 at the Paris Exposition.

Several of Mr. Barnhorn’s fountain figures
were made in the faience department at Rookwood Pottery, one of the most
distinguished being his "Dolphin & Boy" fountain.

All Duveneck’s other downtown studios have crumbled long
since as sacrifices to progress. In 1897 the painter was at 118 East Fourth.
Several years earlier he shared with Clement J. Barnhorn Room 71 of the Pike
Building, where the Sinton now stands. There Mr. Barnhorn helped Duveneck model
the memorial to Mrs. Duveneck, which was finished in July, 1891.

Mr. Barnhorn as a boy visited the studio at 231
West Fourth that Duveneck had in 1874 and 1875.

Robert Allen,
Cincinnati Enquirer, June 8, 1930

Columbia, Cambridge Tile Manufacturing Company, 18" x 6" relief panel

In 1889 Mount Casino Art Tile and Cambridge Art Tile
combined to form the Cambridge Tile Manufacturing Company.The company produced brightly
colored enameled tiles, stove tiles and decorated tiles such as artistic
faience mantle tiles and vitreous mosaics. Ferdinand Mersman and Clement J.
Barnhorn, two German artists and modelers who had worked across the Ohio River
at Rookwood, joined the company.

Decoration of the public waiting room in the new courthouse
with Rookwood pottery tile was assured yesterday when the New Courthouse
Building Commission awarded the contract for setting the tile to the Charles
McCaul Company for $4,282 as an addition to the contract for the general
construction of the courthouse.

Arrangements have been made by the commission to purchase
the tile direct from Rookwood Pottery for $9,000 making the total cost of the
Rookwood Room $13,282. C.J. Barnhorn, sculptor, is to design four panels
depicting events in Hamilton County of a historical nature.

Cincinnati Enquirer,
October 3, 1917

Young artists whose fame lies ahead and older ones who have
won their laurels drift in, one by one, at 317 Main street where the late
Clement Barnhorn’s possessions will be auctioned at 10 a.m. next Tuesday.

The younger artists, some of whom were the great Barnhorn’s
students, look with a certain awe at the tools the sculptor used in his studio
in the Art Museum, where he worked until his death in August, 1935. The older
ones touch the bronzes and death masks and tools affectionately, smiling at
memories of hours spent talking with him while he worked.

Still others come from distant cities—artists and sculptors
who knew and revered his art, whether or not they knew the sculptor-artist
personally.

One of four Barnhorn Angels guarding Duveneck's grave, St. Mary's Cemetery, Covington, KY

There are genuine Duveneck paintings in that display of Mr.
Barnhorn’s possessions to go under Joseph Harris’ hammer. There are paintings
by Sharp, Weis, Nourse, Daly, Maurer and other famous artists. A few works of
old masters are there, some marble figures, old wood carvings, pottery and
other valuable works of art.

In Cincinnati, several Barnhorn students have risen to
national and international recognition….such artists as Clotilde Zanetta,
Charlotte Haupt, Carolyn Zimmerman, Bernice Haswell and others.

Hughes Center 'Dolphin & Boy' Fountain and Barnhorn's grave crucifix

When the sculptor-artist died, he left some of his finest
things to the Art Museum, including the Duveneck portraits of himself and his
twin brother, Henry, and a small portrait of himself, done by Elizabeth Nourse.
His own famous work, “Alma Mater,” he had given to the museum before his death.

Mr. Barnhorn...was born in Cincinnati and spent most of his life here, but
his fame spread throughout the world. He was honorary curator of sculpture at
the museum.